Matthew Townend (ed.) 2012, ‘Þórarinn loftunga, Glælognskviða 2’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 866.
Nú hefr sér
til sess hagat
þjóðkonungr
í Þrándheimi.
Þar vill æ
ævi sína
bauga brjótr
byggðum ráða.
Nú hefr þjóðkonungr hagat sér til sess í Þrándheimi. Þar vill {brjótr bauga} ráða byggðum æ ævi sína.
Now the great king [= Sveinn] has arranged himself on the throne in Trøndelag. There {the breaker of rings} [GENEROUS MAN] will rule the settlements always throughout his life.
Mss: Kˣ(486v), 39(11ra) (Hkr); Holm2(71v), 325VI(39vb), 321ˣ(273), Holm4(67vb) (ll. 1-4), 61(128vb), 325V(86ra-b), 325VII(40r), Bb(203rb), Flat(127va), Tóm(159r) (ÓH)
Readings: [1] sér: Svein 61 [2] sess: ‘se[…]’ 39, þess Holm2; hagat: ‘hag[…]’ 325VII, hugat Bb [4] ‑heimi: ‘[…]’ Holm4 [5] vill: vill hann Bb; æ: om. 39, ey Holm2, 325VI, 321ˣ, alla 325VII [6] ævi: ‘[…]fi’ 39; sína: síðan 325VII [7] bauga: baug 325V; brjótr: njótr Bb
Editions: Skj AI, 325, Skj BI, 300, Skald I, 152; Hkr 1893-1901, II, 520, IV, 174, ÍF 27, 406 (ÓHHkr ch. 245); ÓH 1941, I, 603 (ch. 245), Flat 1860-8, II, 377; Magerøy 1948, 11, 16, 19-20.
Context: Following an account in the previous chapter of the translation of Óláfr’s remains into Clemenskirkja, Niðaróss (Clemenskirken, Trondheim), and quotation of Sigv ErfÓl 23, sts 2-10 are quoted as a block in ÓH-Hkr in exemplification of the miracles of the now venerated Óláfr.
Notes: [All]: The introduction in ÓH-Hkr identifies skald and title: Þórarinn loftunga orti um Svein Álfífuson kvæði þat, er Glælognskviða heitir, ok eru þessar vísur þar í ‘Þórarinn loftunga composed about Sveinn Álfífuson that poem which is called Glælognskviða, and these stanzas are in it’. — [1] sér ‘himself’: Note 61’s reading, which identifies Sveinn. Although the poem speaks of Sveinn in both the 2nd and 3rd pers., he is not actually named in any of the extant stanzas. — [3] þjóðkonungr ‘the great king’: Cognate with OE þēodcyning (e.g. Beowulf l. 2 þēodcyninga, Beowulf 2008, 3). As in OE, the first element may mean ‘people’, but could also simply be an intensifying prefix. Þjóðkonungr may seem rather a grand title to apply to the youthful Sveinn, but the phrase Sveinn konungr in Sigv Tryggfl 1/3 and Anon Sveinfl 1/5 confirms that he was indeed recognised as king of Norway, and not simply as regent or governor on behalf of his father Knútr. — [4] í Þrándheimi ‘in Trøndelag’: This is more likely to refer to the region (modern Trøndelag) than to the city (modern Trondheim). For the name in medieval sources, and its relationship with Kaupangr and Niðaróss, see Gade (1998) and Lockertsen (1999). — [5] æ ‘always’: Skj B, Skald and Magerøy all print the related form ey (witnessed by mss including the authoritative Holm2), no doubt to avoid the rhyming clash of æ with the following word ævi.
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